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If you're not satisfied, simply call us toll-free at (800) 773-0888 during our normal business hours. All requests made under this guarantee must be made within 60 days of purchase. We will process your request within 5 business days after we've received all of the documents and materials sent to you. Unfortunately, we can't refund or credit any money paid to government entities, such as filing fees or taxes, or to other third parties with a role in processing your order. We also cannot refund any money paid by you directly to third parties, such as payments made by you directly to attorneys affiliated with our legal plans or attorney-assisted products.

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Benefits of Provisional Application for Patent

Benefits of Provisional Application for Patent

There are several advantages to filing a provisional application for patent:

1. Lower cost and faster preliminary process

The provisional application for patent filing fee is much less expensive than a Non-Provisional Patent Application. In addition, the technical requirements are simplified. This means it takes you less time and money to prepare and file a Provisional Application.

2. Establishes an official USPTO filing date

Corresponding Non-Provisional Patent Applications filed within twelve months of the Provisional Application date have the benefit of "relating back" to the Provisional Application. This means that, should a dispute arise over invention ownership, the USPTO will accept the earlier provisional application filing date as the official filing date.

Filing a Provisional Application can be extremely useful in the extremely competitive race to patent an invention. Now that the US is changing from a "First-to-Invent" system to a "First-to-File" system, your filing date will be the most important determinant of whether you--or someone else who filed first--gets a patent. You'll still want to keep your prototypes, journals, notes, etc., but an early-filed application is now of paramount importance, and a Provisional Application for Patent is the quickest, easiest and cheapest way to accomplish this.

3. One year to assess the commercial viability of your invention

You can take advantage of the Provisional Application's one-year period of coverage to evaluate the commercial potential of your invention before committing to a Non-Provisional Patent Application.

4. Use of the "patent pending" notice

Before the provisional application for patent existed, an inventor had to file a full patent application to use the "Patent Pending" or "Patent Applied For" label. Now you can do so after filing a Provisional Application. "Patent Pending" is a useful deterrent to infringement.

5. Extending the patent term

A patent lasts for 20 years, measured from the date a full patent application is filed. By first filing a Provisional Application, which is valid for 12 months, you can effectively receive 21 years of protection, beginning with your provisional filing date

6. Confidentiality

A Provisional Application for Patent does not compromise the confidentiality of your application since Provisional Applications are not published.

7. Immediate acceptance

Provisional Applications are not reviewed by USPTO examiners unless and until you decide to file a corresponding Non-Provisional Application. This saves you time and money associated with the application.

How do you decide what's best for you? Last wills and living trusts can accomplish similar objectives. Whether a living trust is better for you than a will depends on whether the additional options it provides are worth the cost. Get the details on both so you can choose what's best for you and your family.

Your living trust document creates your trust, but it is not functional until you actually transfer ownership of your assets to it. Find out how to transfer different types of assets and whether you need legal assistance.

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